V/H/S [DVD] [2017]

Being a horror fan, particularly one of the old school, the prospect of sitting and watching a modern take on the old classic horror anthology was one I couldn't resist. And while I was certain that V/H/S wouldn't measure up to the classics like Asylum or Dr Terror's House of Horrors, I came away from it surprised and delighted by some things (and not by others, but I'll get to that later).A group of douchebag petty criminals who are fond of taping their assaults and property damage are given the chance to make some big money in what appears to be a simple caper; break into a house with one old geezer in it and steal a videotape. The boys hit the road, enter the house, and find the man dead in his armchair and a stack of VHS tapes. They begin viewing the tapes in the hopes of finding the specific film, only do discover a series of shocking and unbelievable events caught on camera by their victims; a trio of guys go out to bring some drunk girls back to a motel room and make some "amateur entertainment" only to discover one of the girls is looking for something more than sex, a couple on a road trip find their privacy is being invaded by a knife-wielding stranger, a group of young friends head out into the woods only to find themselves stalked by a creature that only appears on film, a girl wabcamming with her boyfriend thinks her appartment is haunted and tries to capture the evidence on her laptop, and a group of buddies out to celebrate Halloween find the best haunted house attraction in town - providing they can get away with their lives. As the burglars watch these stories unfold, they remain oblivious to the fact the house they're in has secrets of its own...Now, with all anthologies, some things hit, others miss. The most variable element in these movies has to be performance - some of the actors are fine, others are frankly dreadful. The standout here has to be Hannah Fierman from the first story; she has about three lines of dialogue, all very short, and yet comunicates being subtly odd long before they start slapping on the prosthetic makeup, and is strangely effecting and heartfelt - even naked and covered in gore. She has to be this movie's breakout star if there's any justice in the world. At the other end of the spectrum, the leads in the third and fourth stories are knuckle-bitingly bad. This variability made some of the segments painful; the fourth story having some great creative ideas and visuals only to be dragged down by an irritatingly flat female lead I stopped giving a damn about after five minutes. The special effects here are simple and old-school and frankly note-perfect in this movie, especially in the last story where things get very weird in a manner that would suggest a much higher budget than these shorts could have had. The premises of all the stories are solid, and thankfully even the less-than-good ones are short enough to not overstay their welcome (on the whole at least).I know the shaky-cam handheld theme of the whole movie might not win it that many friends, and it is admittedly a pretty scattershot affair, V/H/S is very very good when it's good, when it's bad... well, you get the idea. It has some nice concepts used well on the most part, and remains true to the virtues of horror movies of the old videocassette era: nudity, blood, and plenty of both. Some folk might find some of the characters a little too mean to empathise with, and that a lot of the female cast seem to be getting out of their clothes a lot, but this is after all a horror movie revelling in those kinds of 80's sensibilities, albeit with a 21st century twist. If V/H/S was to tell me it liked me, I'd tell it I liked it back. On the whole at least, and as long as it showered off some of the mess before it kissed me.

A fun concept for a film and very scary

A collection of horror stories filmed in the found footage style. VHS doesn't offer anything particularly gob-smackingly new, but does attempt a few twists on this well-worn genre.The film is structured with a wraparound story about a group of lads asked to break into a house and retrieve a tape. They find a dead man sitting in front of a bank of telly's with tapes scattered around. They sample some of the tapes and these form the stories we see.As with most anthology films it is a bit hit and miss. A collection of wildly different directors is always going to produce some scatty results and it's this problem which will forever hold this sort of film back. You lurch from one stylistically different film to another which doesn't allow you to be drawn in as well as one complete film would. Also due to the length of the stories, you never really care or get to know enough to care about any of the characters, which means you really aren't bothered what happens to them.However in the most part these stories do work with the odd noticeable exception. The story about a couple on a road trip stopping at various motels was dull and pointless with a really disappointing ending. A story about a girl in a house talking to her boyfriend via her computer starts off by setting a very creepy mood with the one major jump of the film, but then starts to descend into mediocrity by the time the twist is revealed.The other stories make up for these by being fairly inventive and in some parts genuinely nervy. The first and last story in particular succeeded in entertaining as well as providing the odd scare. The last story is even more impressive with its special effects subtly littered throughout.The film also suffers with some pacing issues. Again due to the nature of found footage some of the scenes can drag out for ages with frantic cuts and screen wobbles. Whereas the likes of Paranormal Activity have managed to create an atmosphere of tension and suspense, VHS suffers from going to one fairly paced story back to the rather dull wraparound story and then onto a slower paced and often uneventful story.Found footage is an overcrowded genre and there is very little new to inject into it. If you don't mind this genre of film then you probably will still find merit with VHS. It tries hard to immerse you which it does succeed to do in some parts. However there are too many slow moments and just plain jarring moments that stop this from being a classic.For guaranteed scares and a master class in found footage see Paranormal Activity. For a good night in and a few minor scares pick up VHS.

I must admit, the horror genre is, for the most part, a swirling vortex of dross. As a result it seems that the excellent VHS isn't getting the exposure or recognition it deserves. It's a shame because this film really should have found a wider mainstream audience.In fairness, there's nothing particularly new here- Hammer horror were doing portmanteau films back in the sixties and the found-footage/fake documentary thing has become a cinema standard since Cannibal Holocaust. However, VHS has a subtlety, simplicity and off-kilter sense of humour that lifts it a cut above the rest. The short film format works particularly well for the crudeness of horror, allowing the tales to be unsettling and ambiguous. Plus, the framing scenario of these videos being found & viewed by some looting bozos casts doubt over the validity of each one, which conversely adds a layer of realism to the whole thing. True, a lot of the characters are obnoxious morons but the acting is fine, the dialogue naturalistic and the special effects are exactly the way they're meant to be.On the downside, the fourth story (about a medical student talking to his girlfriend via webcam) is pretty naff, has the most gratuitous nudity and doesn't really fit with the overall feel of the film. Also, the jerky cameras can be a bit annoying. Apart from those niggles, though, VHS is an unsung classic.